Abbreviations: ABA, abscissic acid; DHN, dehydrin; HIS, hue, saturation andintensity; LEA, late embryogenesis abundant; NIR, near infra-red; RGB, red, greenand blue.∗Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 50 2216539; fax: +39 502216532.E-mail address: a.santaniello@sssup.it (A. Santaniello).1Both the authors contributed equally to this work.